Message of the
Canadian preachers, its second to the coming of the various Colonial
delegates for the Westminster Hall Conference. For the rest, the centre
of the paper was occupied by a four-page supplement, with portraits,
describing fully, and reporting verbatim the Albert Hall services. The
opening sentences of the leading article gave the public its cue:

"There can be little doubt, we think, that yesterday's services at the
Albert Hall mark the inauguration of a national movement in morals,
which, before it has gone far, is as likely to earn the name of the
Revolution as that of Revival. A religious, moral, and social revolution
is what we anticipate as the result of the mission of the Canadian
preachers. Never before has London been so stirred to its moral and
emotional depths. In such a movement the provincial centres are not
likely to prove less susceptible than the metropolis."

As a matter of fact, I had occasion to know that Mr. James Bryanstone,
the preachers' secretary (in whose name John Crondall had carried out
the whole work of organization, while I served him as secretary and
assistant) received during that Monday no fewer than thirty-four
separate telegraphic invitations from provincial centres subsequently
visited by Stairs and Reynolds. It was, as Crondall had said: The time
was ripe, and the Canadian preachers were the mouthpiece of the hour.
Their Message filled them, and England was conscious of its need of that
Message.

On Monday and Tuesday the afternoon and evening services at the Albert
Hall were repeated. Thousands of people were unable to obtain admission
upon each occasion. Some of these people were addressed by friends of
John Crondall's and _The Citizens_, within the precincts of the hall. On
Tuesday morning, sunrise found a great throng of people waiting to
secure places when the hall should open. On both days members of the
Royal Family were present, and on Tuesday the Primate of England
presided over the service addressed by Stairs.

During all this time, John Crondall was working night and day, and I was
busy with him in organizing the recruiting campaign of _The Citizens_.
The Legion of Frontiersmen, and the members of some scores of rifle
clubs, had been enrolled _en bloc_ as members, and applications were
pouring in upon us by every post from men who had seen service in
different parts of the world, and from men able to equip themselves
either as mounted or foot riflemen. On